Suzume, Darling
by Finnhart
Summary: ONESHOT. Seto has to babysit for the day and ends up spending his time with Yuugi who is not as well as he seems. Post Grandpa death. Non yaoi. Revised 11-Feb-11. Please read&review!


**Author's Note:** Silly oneshot. Originally posted on 8th September 2008, then revised and made sparkly, shiny and better on 27th May 2009. A little more tweaking occurred on 11th January 2011.

**Disclaimer:** These characters are the brain children of Kazuki Takahashi, they do not belong to me. Apart from Suzume and Nagisa, of course!

**Warnings:** Swearing. Follows on from the events in _Ojiisan_ and happens before the events in _Take Me To The Water._

**Summary:** Seto has to babysit for the day and ends up spending his time with Yuugi who is not as well as he seems.

* * *

**Oneshot**

**Suzume, Darling**

Seto rarely ventured into the world of ordinariness with his brother. He saw it as a waste of time, no matter what angle he eyed it from. Not to spend time with Mokuba that is to say, but to step into the commercial, clockwork nightmare of normality.

'Why are we doing this again?' he asked for the tenth time in a bored drawl, fiddling with the hem of his low collar as they travelled to central Domino in a black limousine which blazed like a racehorse. Mokuba frowned and crossed his arms.

'Yuugi invited us especially to join him and his friends for Honda-kun's birthday! Y'know I heard you the other day mumbling to yourself about how Yuugi is doing? You've been secretly texting too, I think you two have reconciled your differences and you're just worried about the press reaction. You're friends now and you don't want anyone to know.'

Seto glared. What Mokuba had suggested was not entirely untrue, but nonetheless, he felt a hot wave of indignity. Just over a week ago, old Mutou Sugoroku had passed away during the early evening in his armchair and Seto had found him, having arrived at the Kame Game Shop to confront Yuugi about the conditions of their last duel (he was convinced that Yuugi had cheated). He found their shop door wide open and battering noisily against the wall in the high winds. Rudely, he'd later admit, he entered through the open door to search for Yuugi in the house, but instead found the dead, staring body of the old man. Concluding that Yuugi had fled the house, he too left and later found the boy alone and sobbing in a secluded bus stop nearly a mile away from the shop. The following morning he told Mokuba what had happened, no more than ten minutes before a frantic Jounouchi Katsuya had called the landline, asking to speak to Mokuba. Seto never asked Mokuba what was said in that phone call, but he knew that Jounouchi had relayed the news of Sugoroku's death.

Seto sighed through his nose as a reel of images coiled through his mind, detailing the events of that strange evening and what it all meant. Nobody except his brother and Yuugi knew that he had been there, and that he had been the first person to find the little Game King.

'I don't even like Honda Hiroto.'

'Nii-sama, you're side-stepping the point.'

Seto sighed again, loudly this time. Pleasing his little brother was sometimes like wading through black treacle.

* * *

The traffic was terrible in central Domino given that it was a Saturday. Flustered mothers with strings of children, buggies and bags upon bags of shopping were constantly trying to cross streets, along with hastily paced men, lost tourists and old people, who more often than not changed their minds about crossing the road when they were already half way over it. Traffic lights always managed to turn red as the limo rolled up to them, causing various herds of teenagers to stop and point. Seto griped and was thankful for the tinted glass.

Finally, at Seto's request, the driver pulled up at the back of a multi-story car park where it was quiet, with only a few vehicles and little attention. Seto smoothly slid from the limosuine whilst Mokuba leapt out, Hiroto's birthday gift under his arm. Both brothers had opted for plain, unrecognizable clothing at Roland's demand earlier in the day. Mokuba wore an olive green tee with plain jeans, whereas Seto donned a highly fashionable and well-cut pair of black jeans and a long sleeved white tee with a plunging V-neck – provocative simplicity, many would say. As always, he wore his Duel Monsters pendant, in which a photograph of Mokuba was hidden. He absentmindedly brushed his fingers over it where it rested on his chest.

'Seto, you look so normal!'

Mokuba cackled and bounded away down the narrow street towards the sunlight that swamped the shopping boulevard beyond. Seto moved around the limo to dismiss his driver and told him to clear his schedule for the day.

'I don't know how long this will take,' he muttered through the open window. 'It all depends on when Mokuba wants to go home. Could be an hour, could be all day. Just keep your phone switched on –'

At that moment Seto's own phone started ringing. He recognised the custom ringtone as a personal call and frowned when he saw the name 'Roland' blinking on the tiny blue display.

_Roland? Calling on personal matters?_

'What is it, Roland?'

'_Sir! Sir, I'm so sorry,'_ gushed a breathless Roland. _'I'm so sorry, I know you have plans for today but I have a terribly huge favour to ask–'_

Seto frowned. 'You already got a pay rise this month, Roland.'

'_I – huh? No no no, sir,'_ he stuttered. He seemed to be running somewhere, and Seto heard other harassed voices in the background. _'It's not that, it's Suzume –'_

'Suzume?' Seto repeated, completely lost for a moment, then his eyes widened. 'The baby? Your baby girl? What's happened? Is everything okay?'

'_Everything is fine, sir – well sort of – there's been a terrible fuss at one of the warehouses. It's very bad timing. Nagisa – the wife – she's gone to her parents with the older kids, needs a break from the baby for a day. I'm on baby duty this weekend, bad timing sir –'_

'Why, what's happened at the warehouse? Which one?' Seto was pacing now, kicking dislodged tarmac and stamping on weeds that grew up between the cracks in the path.

'_There's been a fire, sir! Arsonists, stupid bunch of kids fucking around – 'scuse my language – they set one of the warehouses_ _on fire.'_ He had stopped puffing now and Seto heard the slam of a car door. A little voice gurgled on Roland's end of the line. _'There are five warehouses on the wharf sir, I don't know which one was targeted just yet, gotta go and check it out.'_

Seto sighed. The KC wharf storage only held old Duel Disks and various other gaming consoles from the company, either broken or faulty, or experimental lines that never made it to the shop shelves. They were kept with the idea of salvaging parts for future projects so their apparent incineration was not a huge loss.

'Very well,' he said sternly. 'But what's this favour? Wha-'

He faltered. Roland said he was on baby duty whilst the wife was away for the day, and he knew that Seto had booked the day off for 'personal social events'. The phone-call could only mean one thing.

* * *

'But he was right behind me!'

'Well he ain't now, is he? No loss, I suppose –'

'Jounouchi-kun!'

Mokuba had happily made his way to the location where he and Seto were to meet up with Yuugi, Katsuya and Hiroto. He had arrived in immaculate time, with everything except for his brother, and only he and Yuugi seemed stricken by the peculiar disappearance. Katsuya and Hiroto on the other hand seemed quite gleeful at the prospect of not having to spend the day with a nit-picking Seto trailing behind them.

'Do you think we should wait a little longer here?' suggested Yuugi. 'I mean, Mokuba did say that Kaiba-kun knows where we're meant to meet up. Maybe he had to take a business call?'

'Business call, pah,' spat Katsuya. 'He just doesn't want to hang around with us. Not that we're bothered much…'

'Jou-kun, stop it!' said Mokuba. 'He'll come. I'll give him a call.'

He did so under the eye of Yuugi's gang. They stared, half interested, as he lifted the phone to his ear, waiting for Seto to answer. It rang for a considerable amount of time before Mokuba heard his brother pick up.

'Nii-sama! Where are you? What are you doing? I thought you were right behind me? You're holding everyone up!'

Katsuya and Hiroto sniggered.

'What? Is it bad?'

The gang leant in closer. Yuugi's pale, drawn face was particularly troubled but the others seemed only mildly intrigued.

'Well… I dunno. Yeah. Yeah. No. Well if you think you can, I'm sure the others won't mind.'

Katsuya punched the air and whispered to Hiroto. Whatever he said caused a sneer. Yuugi bowed his head, apparently disappointed.

'I guess so. Are you sure you can cope? _What?_ Alright, alright! Fine. We'll stay where we are; we're at the original meeting place. See you in five.'

He clicked his phone shut and pocketed it, looking grave. Katsuya and Hiroto were crestfallen at the meaning of Mokuba's last few words.

'So he's coming along after all?'

Mokuba seemed troubled as he picked at the corner of the wrapping paper on Hiroto's gift. He shifted from one foot to the other.

'Yeah, he's coming. He'll have someone with him though.'

Yuugi gasped and looked strangely apprehensive as Katsuya and Hiroto hooted and roared with laughter.

'Kaiba's got a girlfriend!' Hiroto crowed. 'Oh my god, that's funny, and he's bringing her as a date on _my_ Birthday! I –'

He abruptly faltered, squinting at a point down the slope of the vast, hectic shopping street. He could see someone that he thought he recognised, as a matter of fact he thought it was Kaiba Seto, but it couldn't be, for this man was wearing plain clothes and had a baby slung against his chest with a gaudy baby bag over one shoulder. But that scowl was so unnervingly familiar.

'There he is! Hey, Nii-sama! Hey! Over here!'

A resounding gasp was heard from the trio behind Mokuba as he waved to his brother, signalling their location over the sea of bobbing heads. The scowl on Seto's face was vicious enough to peel road kill from the tarmac. He marched purposefully up the street, and despite having a very small baby in his arms, whose weight he was constantly shifting around with an air of great agitation, the crowd of bustling shoppers subconsciously parted as he walked through them, as if he were clad in his full, recognisable duelling attire.

'My god,' murmured Katsuya at the sight before him. 'He doesn't look happy at all… Whose baby is it? Not his, surely?'

'No,' Mokuba said absently as he smiled at his brother. 'No it's not his – hey Nii-sama!'

Seto had eventually reached the group, breathing heavily through his nose and looking as if he'd been interrupted during mid-murder. The wind had tousled his hair, revealing his normally hidden eyes which now stood out from his face like cracked lapis lazuli. Mokuba winced.

'So, uh… babysitting for Roland?'

Seto grumbled and nodded. He resolutely avoided eye contact with any of them, instead choosing to stare at an undefined point in the distance behind them, his lips pursed with restraint.

'I'd like to go somewhere quiet,' he ground out from behind clenched jaws. 'If the birthday boy doesn't mind. She's wriggling.'

Everyone turned to Hiroto, all of them as befuddled by Seto and the baby as he seemed to be. He stammered for an instant before agreeing and suggested a quiet café he knew of at the top of the hill.

* * *

They arrived at the café, a fashionable Western chain called 'Costa'.

'Costa…' Katsuya murmered, staring at the large sign hanging above the entrance to the building. 'Hey, my English is getting better! I can read that.'

'Well done, _bonkotsu_,' Seto hissed scathingly. 'Now read the menu for us.'

Katsuya spluttered as the redness of anger swamped his twisted face, and Hiroto, who stood beside him, looked equally infuriated, if not more so.

'Kaiba! This is my birthday and I want to have a good time. Don't spoil it just because you've got to lug a brat around!'

Seto hissed, completely appalled. It was true that he'd rather not be babysitting, but he felt passionate that there was no one in the world who was permitted to refer to one of Roland's children as a 'brat' in his presence. He growled and most likely would have punched Hiroto if Suzume was not in his arms.

'_Don't –'_ he snarled brutishly._'– ever_ call Suzume or _any other_ of Roland's children a _brat._'

Hiroto was stunned into silence, though his face was still livid. Seto scoffed, and topped his warning off with a terrible, stony glare before leaning back, regaining his composure and staring placidly at the board upon which the selection of drinks and food were displayed. 'I shall read the menu for you,' he announced stiffly, his emotionless façade more plastic and prevalent than ever. 'It's English and American stuff, so I will also tell you what each of them is like.'

* * *

They chose to sit on the soft leather couches towards the back of the café once they had all ordered their drinks and snacks. Katsuya had ordered a large cappuccino with a shot of hazelnut syrup. For his snack he had a slice of sticky pecan cake on which he was nibbling already. He pulled a face.

'Sure ain't no daifuku,' he said thickly through a mouthful of crumbs. Yuugi laughed and leant into his drink. He and Mokuba had chosen the same drink, a small hot chocolate with the full works; whipped cream, marshmallows, chocolate flakes on top and a chocolate stirring stick. Yuugi's snack was a strawberry linzer biscuit and Mokuba had a slice of millionaire's shortbread. Neither had any complaints regarding their purchases. Hiroto the Birthday Boy had also gone all out and ordered a large mocha, asking for toppings similar to Yuugi's, accompanied by a heavy chocolate brownie. Katsuya cheered and produced a candle from his pocket which had snapped. Everyone except Seto (who had only ordered a modest, bergamot tea without milk) laughed as he planted it in the middle of the brownie and lit it, singing a badly out of tune birthday song to him. They quickly stopped singing when Suzume began to wail.

'I think she wants a drink, too,' Yuugi said merrily, clearly enjoying Suzume's company more than anyone else, even Mokuba, who was not doing a very good job of masking the fact that he was feeling oddly envious of the bundle cradled in the safety of Seto's long arms. Seto grunted and dipped a hand into the bag which Roland had given him.

'_Don't worry,'_Roland had said._'The bottles are already sterilized and ready to go. They are kept in a special thermal satchel to keep them warm. Check the temperature anyway, just in case they've gone cold. You remember how to warm them, don't you?'_

Seto retrieved the satchel that Roland had spoken of. He suddenly felt very self-conscious under the eye of Mokuba and Yuugi's gang as he unzipped it and peered inside. There was a plastic case with four bottles inside. He randomly picked one and scrunched his nose up at it when he saw garish, pink flowers embossed all over it.

_Oh dear, Roland,_ he thought. _I suppose Nagisa bought them._

'Do you know what you're doing?' Katsuya suddenly asked, sounding quite concerned. Seto scowled at him.

'Of course I do, you idiot,' he snapped. 'Do you think Roland would let me look after his baby if he thought I couldn't do it?' Shaking his head, he turned his eyes back to Suzume who was steadily crying louder and louder. A pair of stern, white-skinned entrepreneurs who were discussing something over a teapot in the corner were staring, clearly irritated by Suzume's bawling.

'Fucking teenage parents,' he heard one of them mutter darkly. 'Get enough of that shit in our own country.'

Seto seethed, feeling the almost irrepressible need to turn and bellow at them, to ask them what they had just muttered about the great Kaiba Seto, but with substantial effort he bit his tongue and concentrated on Suzume instead. He leant back and shook the bottle before removing the lid and testing its temperature on his inner wrist. Ignoring all the eyes on him, he presented the teat to Suzume, but her eyes were tightly shut as she screamed.

'Come on,' he murmured in a low voice to her. 'Food, look. Look at the bottle, you'll recognise it…'

But Suzume wasn't playing. She screamed louder and turned her tiny, crumpled face away, pushing the air with her minuscule hands. Yuugi leant forward.

'Has she met you before, Kaiba-kun?'

Seto was now bouncing her lightly, trying to cheer her up and to appear calm, however his blanched face revealed an unnervingly alien stage-fright, and everyone was surprised to see how quickly he became exasperated. 'Yes, she's met me,' he said awkwardly. 'Lots of times, I've held her and played with her and fed her, I've even changed her a few times before. I just... Maybe it's the smell in here?' he mused, as an afterthought. 'Neither Roland nor Nagisa drink coffee.'

Once more he hovered the bottle in front of Suzume's face, desperate for her to stop screaming.

'Come on Suzu-chan,' he said. 'It's getting cold.' He lightly trailed the teat over her small cheek from the ear towards the corner of her mouth. Finally she opened her eyes and looked towards Seto, her sobbing reduced to whimpers. Seto put the bottle to her lips and she gladly latched onto it.

Seto grinned in triumph and sank back into the plush couch, rearranging Suzume a little. Yuugi was also smiling; utterly transfixed by the sight of Seto feeding the baby, but everyone else was somewhat bewildered. Mokuba looked incredibly sour.

'Y'know…' Hiroto started. 'You don't really seem to want to spend time with us Kaiba, and you seem kinda busy so – should we leave you to it? I mean, there's loads of places I want to go and stuff… I doubt it's a good idea to take a baby to those places.'

Beside him, sipping on his cappuccino, the froth clinging to his lips, Katsuya nodded. Seto stared at them distantly, considering what Hiroto had said. He turned to Mokuba.

'It sounds like a good idea. Do you want to go with them or stay with me?'

Mokuba didn't look at Seto when he told him that he wanted to go with the others. After all, he had said, he wanted to be there when Hiroto opened his gift and that wasn't to happen until they had gone to fetch Anzu after her shift at work had finished. He, along with the birthday boy and Katsuya, stood from their places and began to leave the café. Katsuya turned and looked at Yuugi, perplexed, for he had remained in his chair, scooping gooey marshmallows from the depths of his mug with his finger.

'Aren't you coming, Yuugi-kun?'

Yuugi gazed at his feet, a guilty expression plainly painted on his pale face. He fumbled clumsily with the Puzzle pendant around his neck.

'I – er… I'd quite like to, um… well I want to stay here, if you don't mind? I feel kind of tired and ill.'

Katsuya was still for a moment before he signalled with a toss of his head for Hiroto and Mokuba to wait outside. When they turned away from the window to busy themselves with light conversation, Katsuya leant over the arm of the couch and placed a warm hand behind Yuugi's neck.

'Are you sure you're going to be okay? I'm very worried about you, Yuugi-kun.'

Yuugi smiled widely into Katsuya's concerned face. 'I'm very sure that I'll be alright, Jounouchi-kun. I like babies, and Kaiba-kun knows he can't scare me.'

Seto glowered dangerously but the effect was rendered void by the fact that he was bottle-feeding a baby. Katsuya looked uncertain but gave Yuugi a gentle squeeze of the shoulder and smiled.

'So long as you'll definitely be alright,' he said. 'I've got my phone. Ring me later. I'll hunt you down if you don't.'

Yuugi laughed hoarsely. 'Okay Jou-kun. I'll make sure I'll ring you later.'

With a final grin which didn't quite penetrate the concern in his oaken eyes, Katsuya left the café, joining the other two outside in the bright sunlight. They disappeared up the street, chattering away. Yuugi turned to Seto with an earnest face.

'I hope you don't mind me staying here, Kaiba-kun.'

Seto merely rolled his eyes. 'Thanks for asking me _now,_ Yuugi.' He grumbled some more and turned back to Suzume, who had nearly finished her bottle. Yuugi stared wistfully at the baby, leaning forward to have a better look. The Puzzle around his neck shimmered and tinkled. Seto gazed at it.

'How come the others can't hear it jingling?'

Yuugi gave him a suspicious, knowing look. He broke off a fragment of his linzer biscuit and popped it in his mouth.

'Only a person who has carried the spirit of the Puzzle can hear it.'

Seto realised his mistake too late, drawing a lungful of air and turning away from Yuugi, unsure of what he should say next. He felt slightly embarrassed by his blunder.

'When you found me, Kaiba-kun, and took me back to the shop in your car, I asked you if you had found the Puzzle and put it on. You said no.' Yuugi was glaring uncharacteristically. For a moment Seto thought he was looking at the Other Yuugi but there was not a trace of those hard, crimson eyes. This stern face belonged to the Little Yuugi. 'I've always taken you to be a brutally honest person, Kaiba-kun,' he continued. 'But you lied. Why?'

Shifting awkwardly on the leather couch, which squeaked ridiculously, Seto turned back to Yuugi and matched his frown. He spoke in a low tone so as not to disturb Suzume.

'I put the Puzzle on and your bastard soul mate saw fit to… _possess_ me and use my body to go and find you. I cast him out and threw the Puzzle across the room. I apologise for the chunk of plaster I knocked off the wall. Anyway, I could hear the thing ringing all night, even when I was a mile away dealing with _you_ at that piss-stained bus stop.'

'It scares you doesn't it,' Yuugi whispered suddenly, leaning back and pulling his feet under him. He faced Seto on the couch and stared at him. 'When you first realise that you aren't in your body anymore.'

Seto sighed, looking down at Suzume. She was looking right back at him, her eyes the same mint green as her father's. He squeezed her gently and rested his large palm over the top of her head, brushing his fingers over the dip in her skull.

'It was an exhausting experience, I will admit. I felt like I'd just run up a mountain.'

'Really?' exclaimed Yuugi, sounding quite interested. 'It just makes me feel a little dizzy.'

A silence hung over them for several minutes. Yuugi fidgeted, finishing his snack and picking half-heartedly at the remains of the pecan cake which Katsuya had barely eaten. Seto reclined into a tranquil daze, keeping Suzume calm by softly jiggling her in his arms, but she decided to amuse herself by fiddling with the Duel Monsters pendant that hung within her grasp. She burbled delightedly and chewed it.

'Sometimes you can see him in the mirror.'

'Hmm?'

'You can see his eyes, staring back at you out of your own eye-sockets.'

Seto turned his face towards Yuugi who had now adopted a hunched over position, chewing the nail of his little finger distractedly. His large purple eyes were wider than normal and seemed to have sunk further into their sockets, giving him the disposition of a terribly disturbed insomniac.

'That happened to me,' Seto said. 'Only once though, in the reflection of the car window. I saw his eyes staring at me from my face. And in your house, when I put the Puzzle on, I heard him speaking to me with my own mouth. Bastard.'

Abruptly he scrunched his nose up and sniffed. He frowned at Suzume and made a face.

'I'll be back in a minute,' he said, a little flustered. 'She needs changing.' With that he grabbed the large bag and disappeared with Suzume into the men's room, only to reappear a moment later.

'There's no changing mat in there!' he blurted indignantly. 'That's _sexist._' He disappeared from sight once more, this time through the door to the ladies' room, leaving Yuugi, the girl behind the counter and the two white entrepreneurs staring after him, mystified.

* * *

After that, both Seto and Yuugi agreed to move on from the Western coffee shop and meandered up the boulevard in a slow, relaxed gait, heading towards the entrance to the Mise Centre, Domino's largest shopping precinct. Many shoppers gave them odd looks as they walked beneath the April blossoms and many recognised Yuugi, but strangely they didn't recognize Seto at all. Yuugi was amused by their staring whilst Seto hardly seemed aware of it, consumed by Suzume and too busy cooing at her, rubbing noses with her and tickling her cheeks with his fingertip, at which she squealed with delight. Seto found this highly entertaining until she grabbed a handful of the hair at his temple and yanked surprisingly hard. He yelped, a rare stunned look on his face. Yuugi laughed.

When they entered the Mise, Yuugi took Seto to a shop which specialised in baby care and growth. They walked in and were immediately bombarded by bright colours and the sounds of other peoples' babies and toddlers screeching.

'There's a play area,' Yuugi explained to a rather wary looking Seto. Yuugi led him to it, a large area in the middle of the shop with a soft carpet into which things such as hop-scotch squares, snakes and ladders, numberelli caterpillars and alphabet worms had been stitched. There were beanbags, baby-rockers and numerous blocks and toys scattered around. Seto felt deterred by the fact that every adult there supervising their child was a distracted, gabbling woman. He rolled his eyes.

_Have they come to gossip or play with their children?_

'This is ghastly,' he said scornfully. 'They're all going to talk to me because they're all going to think that I'm a single dad, and apparently single dads are _cute_ and _then_ they'll realise who I am, and there'll be pictures of me in here _all over_ the papers –' he paused and drew a big breath. Yuugi chuckled.

'Well what else do you want to do? There aren't many other places where you can 'hang out' with a baby as small as Suzume. And you're carrying her too, it's not like we can sit down in another café or restaurant and let her rest in a buggy.'

Seto looked perplexed. 'Well what else do people do with their babies when they actually want to get out of the house?' They both pondered for a moment. 'Swimming, perhaps?'

'_Swimming?'_ Yuugi exclaimed. 'Well I suppose so, but I don't have any trunks, and you'd need special nappies for Suzume.'

Seto sneered. 'You're standing next to the richest man in Domino, Yuugi. I have plastic.'

* * *

Seto insisted that he hadn't taken a long time to choose a pair of swimming trunks.

'Half an hour is acceptable,' he maintained stubbornly. Yuugi had quickly grabbed a pair of the first plain black trunks in his size that he could find and handed them to Seto so he could pay for them, before reminding him that they would need towels as well. Seto scowled and plucked three large towels from where they were displayed. Yuugi stood by the till with Seto.

'_Triple digits?'_ he gushed. 'That seems very cheap for a designer store!'

Seto smirked. 'It's American dollars, Yuugi, not yen.'

Yuugi's face paled considerably, which only made Seto's smirk widen.

'Come on, let's go to the pool.'

* * *

Yuugi scurried along, struggling to keep up with Seto's longer strides as he lugged the baby bag in which the packet of swimming nappies had been placed. They were heading towards a part of Domino that Yuugi wasn't entirely familiar with; he watched the spire of the Domino Swim Park disappear behind some buildings they had passed.

'K-Kaiba-kun!' he panted, scampering like a short-legged cat. 'Where are we going? The pool is that way!'

'It's peak time on a Saturday,' Seto said, as if Yuugi had just asked him the stupidest question in the world. 'It will be too loud and will be filled with shitty kids and teenagers splashing. There's a quieter and more respectable pool in a leisure centre this way. I guess it would be _posh_ and _boring_ by you and your friends' standards. Nonetheless, they have a kiddy pool as well as the main one. And a restaurant, we'll be hungry afterwards I suspect.'

'Oh,' said Yuugi. 'Well, I'm not really up for swimming around anyway; I was just going to lounge on the side in the kiddy pool with you and Suzume. Can I play with her in the pool? You haven't even let me hold her yet! And I can pay for my own food.'

Seto merely tutted as they arrived at the entrance to the expensive leisure centre.

* * *

When they entered the changing rooms, Suzume needed seeing to again.

'Let's put these swim nappies to the test shall we, Suzu-chan?' Seto chattered enthusiastically. 'Won't the world be surprised when Kaiba Seto says he's got a review of babies' swim nappies haha…' He finished changing her and tickled her cheeks before bending down to blow a loud raspberry on her bare belly. She squealed and wriggled, giggling as she grabbed another handful of Seto's thick, chestnut hair.

'No no no, don't pull my hair again…'

At that moment Yuugi popped his head into the changing room. 'Everything okay? I heard her squeaking.'

Seto straightened quickly, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment. 'Yes,' he muttered awkwardly. 'Everything is fine. Will you watch her whilst I go and put my trunks on?' He grabbed the pair of swim trunks he had chosen and marched towards the cubicles. He turned just before he passed through the tiled threshold and glared menacingly at Yuugi. 'If anything happens to her, I'll kill you, and then Roland will kill you again and chop you up and feed you to his dogs.' Seto disappeared, leaving a rather paranoid Yuugi behind.

Trying to ignore the threat (which he knew was serious in its accuracy of prediction) Yuugi turned to look at Suzume and smiled. She was staring curiously up at him, absorbed by the exotic eyes she had never seen before. She gurgled and squirmed before reaching out a fat hand to grab the purple and black spikes of hair that hovered tantalizingly above her. Yuugi laughed and bent his head to let her play with it, not at all minding when she pulled, though he objected when she tried to chew.

'No,' he said softly. 'I don't think you should chew my hair.'

Then the Millennium Puzzle caught her eye. Yuugi noticed this and pondered something for a moment, until his thoughts were interrupted by Seto, who had returned from changing into his swim trunks. Yuugi turned to look at him and wasn't at all surprised to see that he was as slender and toned as everyone liked to imagine. His skin was pale and bore minimal hair, which Yuugi found himself greatly admiring. He noticed a faintly pink, puckered scar, five inches or so above his belly button.

'That was from the attack,' he said simply, staring at the scar. He leant in closer to look at it.

'Yes,' Seto murmured, tracing a light fingertip over it. They were silent for a moment.

'You don't mind that I've seen it?'

Seto scoffed. 'You think I'm your friend, Yuugi. You aren't going to judge me because of this.' He gestured at the scar. 'I'd be bothered if your gang saw though.'

Yuugi stared some more, not seeming to realise how much his eyes were roaming. There were more scars, bands of much older ones wrapped around Seto's upper arms and wrists. Later Yuugi would notice the same type of scars around his calves and ankles, in approximately the same places where he would sometimes wear the blue straps and metal cuffs with his dueling coats. Yuugi wasn't sure what to make of them. He couldn't tell if Seto had realised he was looking at the older scars, though he supposed it might have been a little ignorant of Seto to presume he hadn't seen. Not a word was spoken between them that day about those old bands of scars.

Seto siged heavily, scooped up Suzume with her towel and left for the baby pool. Yuugi, with his hand on his Puzzle, followed him out, wanting to respond to the words he had just uttered, but the moment was already lost.

* * *

They had spent nearly twenty minutes or so in the pool before Suzume started to get agitated and began whimpering, kicking with her small, fat legs. That was well enough time for both Yuugi and Seto; they had found it enjoyable and relaxing enough just to lounge with their backs against the edge of the warm, shallow infant pool. Insisting on a few extra moments in the water, Seto held Suzume on her back and swished her over the surface of the water until Yuugi demanded some play time, gladly taking the baby in his arms. Suzume stared and gurgled at Yuugi's big, violet eyes. She reached out and placed her chubby hands on the Puzzle. Yuugi gasped and nearly dropped her into the water when the light from within the Puzzle's eye flared brightly over the pool, saturating the room in a golden flare as briefly as a flash of lightning, leaving the other swimmers blinking and confused. Suzume giggled.

'Yuugi?' Seto marched as best he could through the waist high water towards Yuugi who had become very still, his head bowed, hair falling over his face. 'Yuugi, what was tha–'

Yuugi looked up. Seto's breath caught in his throat as he gazed into the hard, angular eyes of the Other Yuugi, their red irises glowing brightly. He looked peculiarly haggard and had an uncharacteristic slump in his posture. He spoke in a tired, cracked voiced.

'I haven't been out for what feels like years… not since Grandpa died – _argh!'_

He flinched and convulsed. Suzume fell with a loud splash into the water as the Other Yuugi cried out, clutching his chest in apparent agony. Seto lunged into the water to rescue Suzume who came out spluttering and blinking. She shivered and wailed loudly.

'_Shit –'_

Seto rounded on Yuugi, an inexplicable rage coursing through him. He faltered before he could launch his verbal attack when he saw that the Little Yuugi had returned, staring with unseeing eyes, before collapsing. Seto caught him with a spare arm just in time.

'_What the fuck is going on?'_

Seto's head snapped up, his heart beating wildly at how quickly the situation had crumbled to pieces.

'_Jounouchi?'_

Arriving at the pool, all wearing what looked like brand new swimming trunks were Honda Hiroto, Jounouchi Katsuya and Mokuba, all gaping with shock at the sight before them. Suzume began to scream louder, drawing the attention of the burly lifeguard who was slowly making his way around the edge of the pool towards them. Seto hissed, thoroughly frustrated.

'_Help me!_ Take Yuugi, he's collapsed.'

Katsuya and Hiroto leapt forward to take Yuugi's limp form, slipping on the tiles. Mokuba stared with a foreign frown puckering his brow. Seto was pained to see that his brother looked coldly disappointed.

'Take him to the changing rooms,' Seto instructed as he leant down to fetch Suzume's towel from the side of the pool, wrapping her up and hushing her gently, to no avail. The lifeguard had reached the small group, his face stern.

'What seems to be the problem?' he asked gruffly.

'Nothing,' Seto replied awkwardly. 'She's just very fed up –'

'And what about your fainting friend?' the guard interrupted. Seto almost stammered as he gave his reply.

'He's just extremely tired. He hasn't eaten properly yet. He'll be fine.'

The guard didn't look satisfied as he winced against Suzume's shrill cries. 'Fine,' he muttered curtly. 'Go and sort her out. Maybe you should do some research before you take your baby swimming again.' He strolled back to his post, grumbling as he went. 'Damned teenage parents...'

For the umpteenth time that day, Seto had to fight the urge to scream at someone. He marched past Mokuba towards the changing rooms.

* * *

Quarter of an hour later, both with wet, combed hair and shining noses, Yuugi and Seto were sat in the small pool restaurant staring with blind eyes at the menus. Seto gave up trying to choose something to eat and instead decided to feed Suzume, who was whimpering again. With her nestled comfortably in the crook of his arm and feeding contentedly on her bottle, he gazed through the vast glass wall into the pool where he could see Katsuya, Hiroto and Mokuba resting with their arms over the edge of the deep end, conversing and laughing. Every now and then Katsuya would turn around to glance quickly into the restaurant. Seto sighed. The Puzzle had been twinkling gently since the incident in the pool, more than it had been all week, Yuugi reported.

'I've barely had any contact with him since it happened. I can hardly ever find him in the Puzzle when I go inside to look for him; he's holed himself up in his soul room.'

Seto snorted. 'Soul room?' he scoffed. 'Sounds like a load of bullshit.'

Yuugi ignored him. 'I don't know why he won't come out – out here I mean, in my body.' He paused for a moment. 'When I _do_ pass him in the halls of the Puzzle, he just ignores me and stares at the ground.'

'He did come out,' Seto said seriously, clicking the lid onto Suzume's now emptied bottled. 'In the pool. He dropped Suzume.'

Yuugi looked flustered, running a shaking hand through his damp hair which clung flatly to his scalp. _He looks very odd indeed with wet hair,_ Seto thought to himself before smirking broadly.

'Perhaps he's just sore that I was the first one to be with you after your Grandpa died.'

'I think you're right.'

Seto flinched at the grave baritone. He reluctantly looked up into the scarlet eyes that stared at him from across the small, round table. He arranged his face into a scowl and drew his arms tighter around Suzume.

'So you've just been moping around, ignoring Yuugi,' he said, a statement rather than a question.

'Kaiba–'

'Shut up!' he snapped before the Other Yuugi even had time to say anything. 'I am not having this conversation.' He stood up, gathering the baby bag and his sopping towel in which he had wrapped up his wet swim trunks. 'It's 4 o' clock. I have to go and meet Roland to drop Suzume off.' He turned to leave the restaurant but before he passed through the door he turned back. 'Make sure Yuugi eats something.'

* * *

Out on the streets the wind had picked up and the sky had become a stormy grey. The cold hit him harshly, especially since his hair was still wet. Suzume whined and Seto made sure that she was wrapped up properly. He had to stop on a side bench so that he could put a baby beanie hat on her as well as some little fleece socks, which she greatly objected to. Seto merely shushed her and wrapped her up again in a thick, strawberry patterned blanket that Roland had provided in her baby bag, just as he heard hurried footsteps rushing towards him. He looked up, great distaste on his features as he saw one of the Yuugis heading in his direction. Upon closer inspection he saw that it was the Little Yuugi, his purple eyes shining brightly and slightly bloodshot, either from chlorine or fatigue, Seto couldn't be sure.

'Kaiba-kun! Wait!'

Seto rose to his feet and turned away to carry on down the street towards his meeting point with Roland. Yuugi caught up with him, puffing heavily. He had a packet of some sort of cheap food in his hand.

'Kaiba-kun! I'm sorry about Yami,' he said shrilly. 'When he came into the pool… I don't know what happened, I'm so sorry that he dropped Suzume! I didn't mean to hurt him –'

Seto rounded a corner and headed towards a multi-story car park which loomed over the street. His interested had been aroused.

'Hurt him? What on earth did you do? And are going to eat that? I told him to make sure you ate something, what the hell is it? It looks hardly substantial.'

Yuugi stared.

'Never mind,' muttered Seto, visibly agitated. 'To be honest I don't really want to know or even care about what happened between you two in the pool. I'm just angry that Suzume was the one who drew the short stick in that situation.'

'I'm so sorry Kaiba-kun,' Yuugi whispered.

Soon they had reached the same back street where Seto and Mokuba had been dropped off earlier in the day. Roland had not yet arrived, so they waited in a silence that was occasionally perforated by Suzume's gurgling. She chose this time to spit a mouthful of milky vomit over herself, much to Seto's irritation, who fervently wiped it away with a cloth from the bag, only to have his sleeve soiled as she threw up again. She finished it off with a squeaky belch, quite unperturbed. Yuugi could only laugh.

'At least you're wearing a white top, Kaiba-kun!' he teased.

Seto scowled just as a familiar black car slowly rolled around the corner. The lights winked and Seto then knew for certain that it was Roland. The car came to halt in front of Seto and Yuugi. The front window rolled down and Roland popped his sea-green head out.

'Having fun, sir?' he called. His face fell. 'Where's Mokuba?'

Seto huffed. 'He's with the bonkotsu and that oaf, Honda. I sent him a text earlier; he'll be here in a moment.'

As Roland nodded and got out of his car to see Suzume, Yuugi looked meaningfully at Seto and spoke in a low voice.

'Mokuba is annoyed with you; you're going to have to be nice to him.'

'_What?'_ Seto exclaimed, quietly outraged. 'What do you mean by that?'

Yuugi chuckled. 'I think he just got a bit jealous of Suzume. He was rather looking forward to spending the day with you, and then he ended up not spending the day with you, if you get what I mean. He had to watch you fussing over someone else.'

'Hmph.'

Roland was standing beside them, a wide grin on his face as he clucked at Suzume.

'Hey Suzume, darling!' he chirped. 'Little Suzu-chan! Did you have fun with Uncle Toto?'

Seto blushed deeply as Yuugi laughed. Roland was quite unaware of what he had said as he took Suzume from Seto's arms and bounced her around, rubbing noses with her and blowing little raspberries on her cheeks. A call from the end of the street then summoned their attention. It was Mokuba along with Hiroto and Katsuya, all walking towards them with messy, wet hair.

'Oh good,' Seto muttered. 'We can go now.'

He disappeared into the back of the car without saying goodbye to anyone, but as he bent to get into the seat, he turned back for a moment to look at Yuugi. He saw a pair of red eyes staring back at him and felt that ghastly, unfamiliar rush of apprehension again. He grabbed the door and tried to shut it but the Other Yuugi had a firm hand on it.

'See you soon, Uncle _Toto,'_ he said roughly, before slamming the door shut in Seto's face.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Well, that was a big slab of YuugixSeto stuff for those who kind of wanted more after the ending of _Ojiisan_, which is the fic all about the night when Yuugi and subsequently Seto found Grandpa Mutou dead. We will be seeing more of the thing between Seto and Yuugi/Yami in my other fic _Take Me To The Water,_ which is predominately a puppyshipping fic, but it will probably end up being SetoxJouxYuugi! What is that ship called?

'Toto' is derived from the 'to' in Seto! One of Roland's older children came up with it. And yes, I know it is also the name of the dog in The Wizard of Oz.

Please review or Yami will go nuts and drop you in a swimming pool and er... you'll drown?


End file.
